Четверг 17 Июл 2008, 9:06

Seeing Patti Smith live at MoldeJazz was a revelation. For someone whose only prior experience with the venerable Ms. (or Mrs.?) Smith has been to listen to Land a couple of times, seeing this little old woman and her brilliant band live was utterly mind-blowing.

From the kickstart with Gloria, through a set that included an amazing cover of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced?, Pissing in a River, the great but somehow still overrated Because the Night (which sounds more like the Bruce Springsteen song it is than something Patti Smith would have written – and I guess a smaller person than her would have been bitter at how it is her only real "hit"), and a song that incorporated large parts of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, before ending with a somewhat pathos-y People Have the Power – this truly was a great show.

Although I missed some of the more explicitly beat poetry songs, like my personal favourite Piss Factory and her "cover" of Allen Ginsberg's poem Spell, it cannot be denied that this 62 years old, tiny thing of a woman oozes of power and energy when on stage, and that she has a back catalogue filled to the brim with awesomeness.

So thank you, Patti Smith, both for a great experience, and for giving me a reason to buy every record you've ever made, even though my impression so far is that you energy doesn't always translate as well into studios…